Since prehistoric times, women have assumed the standing, squatting or kneeling position in giving birth to their children. In the Archaeological Museum in Ankara, Turkey, is a specimen of a seated female figure believed to be the goddess of labor birthing in the squatting position. In ancient Egyptian paintings delivery of the goddess Ritho is shown in a kneeling position. Ancient Egyptian art shows women delivering in the kneeling position surrounded by helpers.
Hippocrates used a stool only for the delivery of a retained placenta. The Minoans were contemporaneous with the early dynasties of Egypt, and both used the obstetric stool. The Old Testament mentions delivery on a stone stool.
Standing and squatting positions clearly seem to have been the standard in ancient times. However, in the Indus Valley in India where obstetrics originated, women were delivered on beds. In early medieval times, and as early as 400 BC in Cyprus, women delivered on the laps of husbands or mothers, occasionally even strangers, until the obstetric chair came into common use.
The history of furniture design states that the chair evolved from the stool by the addition of a back and armrests. However, Meltzer tells the story of the invention of the chair by a carpenter who lived in Thuringen, Germany, and was removed for comforting women who sat on his lap during deliveries. The use of chairs in delivery continued until the early part of the 18th century when it was replaced by the couch. Avicenna hints that the position was prescribed to separate the pelvis at the symphysis pubis. The quote the description of Avicenna, "Stretch the legs without pity and then (shake her) while pressing skillfully on her abdomen. The Albuscasis position is virtually a closed symphysiotomy.
In the past, the Albuscasis position may have been the treatment for dystocia as they did have instruments to deliver dead fetuses. To find a modern labor position, it is pertinent to choose one that maximizes the pelvic widening that takes place during labor.
The Niam Naim deliver on a crude stool on the bank of a river with musical accompaniment. When labor is obstructed the women is suspended with a pulley-like device that elevates and lowers the body hoping to effect delivery by the force of gravity. Women have historically expressed dissatisfaction with the modern recumbent position and especially the recumbent-lithotomy variant. Some English women made complaints in Birmingham that resulted in research by Flynn et al who concluded that ambulation in labor should be adopted by Western physicians.
An analysis of labor positions of animals and of primitive societies, together with the sophisticated hemodynamic studies of the various labor positions, may lead to the discovery of more comfortable and mechanically advantageous positions for labor and delivery. In view of the serious drawbacks of recumbency and the numerable advantages of the ancient sitting positions, perhaps the time has come to say goodbye to the recumbent position.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a bed or bed attachment which affords the most efficient delivery of children by a woman, and
It is a further object of this invention to provide a bed or attachment which maximizes the natural processes of childbirth to afford a women the greatest ease in delivery, and
Another object of this invention is to provide a system for child delivery which utilizes gravity and the input of the mother in providing for a more efficient delivery, and
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a delivery bed or attachment which incorporates a slidable back rest, movable foot rests and a natural pulling attachment enabling the mother to bear down more efficiently.